Wolff

Sleepovers

It was now time for a 2 week break before the beginning of the Australian Grand Prix weekend. It gave the drivers a well earned break from the previous 2 weeks of racing constantly. And fortunatly for Nala, she got to go back to her home in Rome and see her beloved pets, Romeo, Blue and Bean.

When she walked in the door of her beautiful country home, she was greeted by K. Her friend stayed there whenever Nala went away, and to be honest, it was always nice to see her smiling face when she got back. She was also jumped on by her dog, Romeo, who kept running around her with excitement.
"Thank you so much for staying again. I hope he's been good", Nala said as she hugged K.
"Of course he has. Always a good boy, aren't you Romeo", she said in her Italian accent, and Romeo came over when he heard his name called. They both laughed, before hugging one last time and then K left, saying her goodbyes beforehand.

It was then just Nala in the house alone, accept for Romeo. It was peaceful. Nice. Nala enjoyed it very much.

The next day, it was mostly the same. Very quiet. Peaceful. Nala decided to go down and see her beautiful horse, Blue. He was an andalusian horse, elegant and strong, grey with small speckles of white across him. Nala adored him. Her parent's had gotten him for her 10th birthday and she fell in love the moment she saw him. In her eyes, he was perfect.

While feeding Blue an apple a while later, she felt her phone ding. She pulled it out, and found herself a little surprise when she saw that she had received a message from Ollie. It made a small bunch of butterflies creep their way into her stomach. Nala slowly made her way to her message, nervous as her thumb dangled above his name. Should she open it? She couldn't decide. Ahhh. Three, two...one! She pressed on Ollie's name and the message he sent popped up.

'Hey, Nala. Just wondering if you'd like to do something before work on Sunday. Anything you like. Just let me know'.

She read the message over and over and somehow she just kept getting surprised each and every time. Ollie just asked her to hang out. She'd never done that outside the paddock or the headquaters back in Germany. She fiddled with her phone for a few moments, figuring out what to say. Ugh, what does she say?!

'Sure, I'd love to hang out... I'm back home in Italy if you want to come here. It's the countryside, and it's nice out here. I think you'd like it!'

Nala texted him back, inviting him to come to her house! She suddenly pannicked when she sent it. Maybe he'd say no? No, it was ok. There was heaps of room out here for the two of them. It would be fine. And not even a minute later, there was a ding again. She knew it was Ollie.

'Why not. Only if there is room though, I don't want to intrude on your personal space. But yes, it would be lovely'.

That basically settled it. Ollie Bearman was coming to Rome. And staying at Nala's house. He was going to be there. With her. Just them. Nala had butterflies crawling through her whole body.

The next day, Ollie arrived. Nala went and picked him up from the airport in Rome, giving him a friendly welcome and taking him to the best gelato place in the city. Together they sat in the sun of the busy Italian streets, eating their ice-cream. It was nice. Afterwards though, it was time to go home. They talked in the car. They talked of Formula 1 mostly and how amazing it was to finally be apart of it. But then they were laughing about other stuff. Random stuff really. When they arrived to the house, Ollie was StarStruck. "This is your house? It's amazing, Nala!", he said, getting out of the car in awe. Nala giggled ar his amazed facial expression, kind of wondering why he was acting like that.
"What? I've never actually seen a house like this in real life! Only in like movies and stuff", he laughed when he saw Nala looking at him like he was some sort of weird thing.
"Well, your going to get used to it for the next few days, aren't you?", Nala replied as they began to walk in.

As soon as the door opened, Romeo was bounding all over Ollie, and soon he was in a ball on the floor as Romeo licked his face. Nala quickly went over, getting the excited dog off him and letting him stand up.
"Sorry, Ollie. This is Romeo. He's a good dog, I promise!", Nala laughed, opening the front door and letting the dog outside. "Here, I'll show you around", she said, dusting Ollie's shirt off when he got up.

Nala took Ollie around the house, showing him the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, pool, gardens, everything there was to see. All the while, Ollie took everything in. When they came back inside, she saw Ollie stop behind her. Slowly she turned around to see him looking at the photos. Her heart instantly leapt.
"Is this you, Nala?", he asked, holding up a frame. She nodded at it. It was a picture of her on her 6th birthday, standing behind a cake with balloons above her head, a cheeky smile on her face. The flash of the camera had made the whole room light up, she remembered. That day was a good day. Amazing actually. She loved that photo, it was one of her favourite ones. Ollie put it down again, picking up another as he inspected it. Nala came closer to him until she was hovering above his shoulder so that she could see as well. But the photo he was looking at made her heart skip beats.

It was silent for a moment. Then Ollie turned to look at Nala, a confused expression on his face.
"Nala, is this Toto Wolff?", he asked quietly. Nala was froze to the spot. She had no clue what to do as he waved the family photo in front of her face. Then she nodded slightly. His face dropped, like he was disappointed or something, it wasnt very clear to her what he was feeling.
"Is your dad Toto Wolff? Are you a Wolff?", he asked more questions, his voice slightly quivering. Nala nodded slightly yet again. His face dropped even more. A lump formed in Nala's throat. He knew. Ollie knew the secret she'd been keeping from everyone. And now she didn't know what to do. She bit her lip, hard, trying not to let emotions show. But it was no use. A tear fell from eye.

"I'm sorry, Ollie...Please, please don't tell anyone", she tried. She could see that Ollie wanted to go, but he was frozen to the spot, just like how Nala felt.
"Why, Nala. You lied to everyone", he said quietly, not quite understanding.
"I know. But it's for a good reason, I promise", Nala said, trying to reach out for him. He let her rest her arm on his, but he still starred at her wide-eyed.

They spent the next hour like that as Nala explained. Ollie starred at her, a mix of confusion, betrayal, undertanding and other things crossing his expression. Finally, he accepted it. It wasn't like they had known eachother forever.

But at the end of the conversation, Nala made Ollie swear he would never tell a soul. And he promised.

The next day came, and Nala and Ollie went down to the horse paddock.
"Fancy a ride?", she asked, "He needs a ride". Ollie shook his head, staring up at the tall horse in front of him.
"I don't ride, sorry", he said, smiling kindly. Nala nodded, going back to the Stanley to retrieve something. When she came back, she had an old vintage bike. It was light green, and although it was older, it still looked brand new.

"Take this then. Its mums old one and she gave it to me. It's a good bike. Works like new", Nala says, handing Ollie the bike and lifting herself up onto the horse.
Slowly, they rode through the hectares of land around them, Nala on her horse and Ollie on the bike. It was nice and peaceful. The birds chirped. The light breeze made the leaves on bushes and trees dance.

When they came to a little pond and sat down on an old metal chair, Nala and Ollie talked. They seemed to like to talk to each other.
"So, what's it like having Toto Wolff as a father?", Ollie laughed and smiled.
"Well, he's a good dad but between him and five older brothers, jeez. We all earned anger issues from him, but I'm definitely his biggest mini-me", Nala laughed.